Improvement in ballot-boxes



1. GA'MBE'H.

Ballot-Boxes.

Patented Augus't19, 1873..

NiTED STATES CEEIGE.

.nicos GAMRER, or NEAR PETERSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN BALLCT-BOXES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 141,872, dated August 19, 1873; .application filed June 4, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

` Be it known that I, JACOB GAMBER, resid- 1n g near Petersburg, in the county of Lancaster and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Ballotdirectly over each other by the chance action of the movement, designed as an ordeal to declde by lot which one or more of a certain number nominated shall be the choice, and to prevent rings or improper electioneering or cheating by stuiiing or otherwise, governed in accordance with rules established by common consent or law.

The drawingsillustrate the mechanical movements of the same, in which, Figure l, the central figure, A, shows the interior when the lid and hopper are removed. B represents the one side laid down, to show'the pinion and cog-wheel and rod on one side. C shows the other side in like manner. with the ratchetwheel, pawl, and also the bell and appliances.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the anterior portion of the box with the lid, Ste.; Fig. 3, the divided hopper, as seen from above, open at fw w. Fig. 4 shows, partially, one ofthe ton gued slides to cover the hopper, sliding in grooves, as herein more fully explained.

A square box, with a lid, a, and bottom b, contains within it a fixed platform, H, the entire length of the box, allowing side spaces for the gearing next the sides B and C. In the anterior portion of this platform there is a space for a drawer, d, which is held bya sprin g-c'atch, v

t, beneath, and pressed out by a spring against the rear end when the catch is depressed. Fig. l. shows the upper face of this platform H, with the two perforations h. The sliding platform F F is shorter, and made to traverse back and forth by means of an attached cross-bar, K, the ends of which are connected with rods L on crank-pins on the ratchet-wheel O and cogged wheels M on their respective sides (l B of the box. I I- are simply guide-ledges, and G a centrally-raised and grooved ledge to adapt it to the central position X of the hopper W W, and under which it slides back and forth, the hopper being stationary, and fills the u per portion of the box A B C. 0n the side there is a pinion, N, with a key or crank handle for turning the same held in bearings n. This drives the cog-wheel M, the shaft of which is connected with and drives the ratchet-wheel O on the opposite side of the box, extending across under the fixed platform and behind the drawer. The pawl P and spring S require no description, nor the ordinary pull door-bell R to sound the alarm. The crossbar K, which actuates the sliding platform, also operates the bell by means of a leg, k, bent down, and on the bottom bent out at a right angle, forming a foot, V, which is wedgeshaped on each side, and made to slide under a lever, T, and cause it to press the upper end :against a lever, U, connected with the hammer, and thus give the pull and strikes the alarm or time when the holes g in the sliding platform (each holding a ball received from the hopper) come directly over the holes or openings h in the fixed platform, through which the balls then drop into the drawer beneath. The balls being dropped into the hopper through the openings in the slides Z, and

the lid closed down and locked, no disposition Y,

can be made by dropping the balls so as to favor one or the other, as to its chanceof coming out rst.

When the handle is turned 'the crank-actionY draws the platform back under the hopper, when it receives a single ball, which is held in the open cell,O in one or both chambers of the hopper, until the continuedcrank-action brings said platform, as before said, to dislodge the ball or balls through the fixed platform into the drawer.

The operation is simple, and the ordeal or ballot of one or more prominent and worthy candidates out of a dozen nominate l by choice or faction, and who each have their friends and influence, are thus, by consent or enactment, subjected to the ordeal, and by it the selection made.

I am not aware of any device yet had for the purpose, or anything substantially like it.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. rEhe combination and arrangement within a box of a hopper, W, and a sliding platform,

F, and stationary platform H, havin g, respect` ively, the perforations g h to allow the balls dropped into the hopper to pass to the drawer beneath, substantially in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

2. In combination with the cogged gearing M N, ratchet-wheel 0, pawl P, connecting-rods L with the bar K, the foot V on the vertical connection with K, to operate the levers T U and hammer of the bell R, in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

JACOB GAMBER.

Witnesses:

Trios. F. M. ELLIGOTT, JACOB STAUFFER. 

